Vegetable Gardening (115 page)

Giving Your Plants Some Friends: Companion Planting

A
companion plant
is one that provides some sort of benefit to other plants growing nearby. It's sort of like how a good friend makes life easier for you. Well, plants have good friends, too. For example, the cover crops that I talk about earlier in this chapter can be considered companion plants.

Some plants are grown together because they seem to increase each other's yields. But what I want to talk about here are companion plants that repel pests. Is that really possible? Well, I'm not so sure. No clear-cut evidence says companion planting works against pests. But some people swear by it. (Louise Riotte's
Carrots Love Tomatoes
published by Storey Publishing is devoted to the subject.) It is true, however, that a variety of plants, herbs, and flowers provides a diverse ecosystem so that predatory insects are more likely to hang around and take care of the bad guys. Besides, trying some of these combinations certainly won't hurt your garden.

These plants are thought to repel specific pests; plant them near crops where these pests are a common problem:

Anise
planted among members of the cabbage family (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and so on) is said to repel imported cabbage worms.

Basil
is said to repel whiteflies, aphids, and spider mites; it's a good companion to tomatoes because these are insects that feed on tomato plants.

Catnip
is said to repel some types of aphids, flea beetles, squash bugs, and cucumber beetles.

Garlic
may repel nematodes and other soil insects.

Leeks
are thought to repel carrot flies.

Marigolds
planted around vegetables are said to repel root nematodes, Mexican bean beetles, and Colorado potato beetles.

Mustard greens
are supposed to repel aphids.

Nasturtiums
are said to repel Colorado potato beetles.

Radishes
may repel striped cucumber beetles.

Ryegrass
may repel root-knot nematodes.

Southernwood
may repel moths and flea beetles.

Tansy
is supposed to repel some aphids, squash bugs, and Colorado potato beetles as well as ants.